Circus under siege Charges of cruelty follow Ringling Bros. every step
of the way
by Pat Sherman

Perhaps not since the Hartford Circus Fire of 1944‹in
which more than 150 people were burned alive in a mammoth big-top
blaze‹has Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus received so much
scrutiny.

Seems these days its cadre of clowns and trapeze artists
can't roll into town without animal-rights advocates in tow.

As "The Greatest Show on Earth" made its annual stop
here, Aug. 8 through 12, members of San Diego Animal Advocates and the
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals descended on the San Diego
Sports Arena to denounce alleged abuse of elephants and other animals.
While some activists were content leafleting passerby, in true martyr
fashion other activists strapped "body screens" to their chests‹portable
monitors displaying explosive footage of animal cruelty.

The most alarming scene, captured by an incognito PETA
investigator, involved Tim Frisco, an elephant trainer for Carson & Barnes
Circus. Brandishing a steel-tipped bull hook, Frisco demonstrated to a
fledgling trainer how to get the 10,000-pound creatures to perform.

"Don't touch 'em. Hurt 'em!" Frisco tells the trainer.
"Make 'em scream! Š When he fucks around too much, you fucking sink that
hook and give it everything you got."

PETA's lead circus monitor, Jason Bayless, follows the
show across the country, organizing demonstrations. If the film clips
don't do the trick, Bayless lets people inspect his own ominous bull hook.

Standing in front of a minivan with "Ringling Beats
Elephants" plastered on its sides, Bayless demonstrated the sharp,
metallic tip. Ringling and other circuses paint the tips of the hooks
black, he said, making the pain-inducing points invisible to children and
adults in most arena seats.

Brandishing a bull hook during Ringling's San Diego stop
was Joe Frisco Jr., Tim Frisco's brother. "They were both trained by their
father, an ex-Ringling employee," Bayless said. "All three of them are
highly aggressive when it comes to handling of the elephants."

Another video playing on PETA screens featured Ringling
trainer Alex Vargas, also present in San Diego. During a stop in Austin,
Texas, last year, Vargas is seen hooking Tonka the elephant on the
underside of its ear. The camera zooms in to show a pixilated red spot,
where Vargas' allegedly drew blood.

"Tonka was trying to get some leaves from a tree,"
Bayless said. "That's when you saw Alex come up behind that ear, and
actually make her stumble, he hit her so hard."

"What are they shooting? Digital?" Perez asked with
laugh. "That's not something that can happen". We do not tolerate any
abuse of any elephant management tools. It's simply an extension of the
trainers' arm, like the leash and collar for a dog, a bit and a rein for a
horse." Perez said the incident "could have happened with a branch, which
is something elephants play with."

The elephants in Ringling shows are not performing
tricks, Perez maintained, but modeling "natural behaviors" like those they
exhibit in the wild. "That could be anything from standing on their head,"
Perez said. "They sit on their butts; they do all sorts of things. They're
playful animals."

Petter Granli, an elephant behavior expert with the
organization ElephantVoices, said elephants do not stand on their heads in
the wild.

"Wild elephants can do a lot of things that [are] fun to
watch," Granli said. "They never stand on their heads, though, hold on to
each others tails or do other tricks that one often see in circusesŠ.
[And] it's certainly not natural for elephants to sit on their butts."

Cynthia Moss, a research director with the Amboseli
Trust for Elephants in Kenya, Africa, considered by some to be the world's
foremost elephant expert, agreed. "Sometimes in play they may kneel down
and touch the ground, but not stand on their heads," she said. "Only when
they're playing would they possibly sit down, but only for a few seconds."

At the Old Town train station the evening of Aug. 12,
Bayless noted how the elephants, waiting to board Ringling Bros.' train,
swayed back and forth on shaky legs. Moss said this behavior could
indicate boredom or distress. "It makes me quite angry when people say
this is natural behavior in the wild," Moss said. "They shouldn't be in
circuses."

Perez praised Ringling's parent company, Feld
Entertainment, for establishing its Center for Elephant Conservation in
central Florida something touted during performances in Ringling's shows.
About 20 elephants have been born at the 200-acre reserve during the past
11 years, Perez said.

"The activist groups have their agendaŠ complete
separation of animals and humans," Perez said. "We have a different
philosophy. We believe that exposing people to animals makes them care
about those animals and our environment more."

However, elephants are social animals and don't do well
in captivity, most experts agree, and zoos across the country are
gradually ridding themselves of their elephant populations.

Two of the 10 elephants performing in San Diego this
month, Tonka and Luna, are not permitted to march through the streets, and
are instead trucked to and from the train.

"What they told the [L.A. Police Department] and other
media was that they're too unpredictable to walk," Bayless said. "They're
in captivity for so long and they're hit so many times that they, for lack
of a better term, go crazy. That's when they go on a rampage. We're trying
to get the [U.S. Department of Agriculture] to pull them from the road."

Perez said Tonka and Luna aren't a threat.

"They're like kids," he said. "They like to play, and
they don't necessarily want to follow in lineŠ. We feel that you go with
what the animal wants."

Does Ringling, the once-beloved institution, under siege
and facing increased competition from flashier, non-animal productions
like Cirque du Soleil, see a day when it might divest itself of its
elephant population?

"Our audience surveys tell us more than 80 percent of
people that come to shows make the decision to come because of the Asian
elephants," Perez said. "Absolutely not."